Tawa Baptist

Mutually Exclusive

Scripture: 1 Corinthians 10:14-22

Video Link: https://youtu.be/FPXWfWBaKQo

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Blood Connections
  • Bread Connections
  • Unseen Connections
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Good morning everyone.

Some things cannot happen at the same time. For example, if you flip a coin, you will get either heads or tails. You can’t get both heads and tails simultaneously.

Likewise, if you take one card from a standard playing deck, then you cannot draw both an ace of diamonds and a two of spades at once. That’s not how cards work.

Or if you are invited to a party then you either attend or you don’t attend. You cannot attend and not attend at the same time. Just as you cannot have your cake and eat it too.

The technical word for this is ‘mutually exclusive’. Mutually exclusive events cannot take place at the same time. Basically, the occurrence of one event means the other event cannot happen.

Today we continue our series in First Corinthians chapters 8-10, where Paul writes about Christian freedom. When it comes to Christian freedom, there are some things which are mutually exclusive. For example, you cannot be a follower of Jesus and be involved with pagan worship at the same time.

Now, in using a term like mutually exclusive, I don’t mean to imply that the Christian faith is closed off from the world or insular. At its heart Christian faith is outward looking. Jesus and Paul were missionaries. They were seeking people they could include.

At the same time, they were not willing to include everything. They held onto their belief in the oneness and goodness of God. They did not sacrifice what they knew to be true.

There is a tension with Christian freedom. On the one hand, we are free to reach out to others with the love of Jesus. But on the other hand, we don’t have a license to compromise our belief or loyalty to Christ. We need to be mindful of this tension as we listen this morning.

From First Corinthians chapter 10, verse 14 we read…

14 Therefore, my dear friends, flee from idolatry. 15 I speak to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say. 16 Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ? 17 Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all share the one loaf. 18 Consider the people of Israel: Do not those who eat the sacrifices participate in the altar? 19 Do I mean then that food sacrificed to an idol is anything, or that an idol is anything? 20 No, but the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God, and I do not want you to be participants with demons. 21 You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too; you cannot have a part in both the Lord’s table and the table of demons. 22 Are we trying to arouse the Lord’s jealousy? Are we stronger than he?

May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate God’s word for us.

As we heard last week, some of the Corinthian believers were walking on thin ice by eating the meat of idols in pagan temples. In today’s reading Paul says quite plainly, you cannot do this. Taking holy communion and joining in pagan worship are mutually exclusive. You cannot do both.

Just beneath the surface of these verses is the idea of spiritual connection or partnership. In particular Paul highlights two things that connect people to God and to one another: blood and bread. Let’s begin with the blood connection.

Blood Connections:

Many of you knew the late Bruce Murray. Bruce played cricket for New Zealand during the 1960’s. He toured India and Pakistan with the Black Caps. Bruce told me of an incident that happened during the third test against India in Hyderabad in October 1969.

The Indian crowd had greatly enjoyed watching two of their batsmen play. When these two men (Venkat and Bedi) were leaving the cricket pitch some of the spectators were so excited they jumped the fence and ran on to the field to congratulate Venkat and Bedi.

Now a cricket pitch is a mutually exclusive place. You cannot have players and spectators on the field at the same time. A good number of auxiliary police (armed with long sticks) saw what was happening and intervened to protect the two Indian batsmen from over-zealous fans.

A young boy slipped past the police. One policeman threw his stick at the boy and missed. When the boy bent down to pick up the stick, another policeman hit him over the head.

The boy put his handkerchief to the wound and saw he was bleeding. When he held the bloodied cloth up to the crowd, the people rioted. The sight of blood created an instant connection. The police had done this to one of their own.

The crowd broke down a wire gate, set the score board on fire and ripped hundreds of chairs out of the grandstands, throwing them on the field.

Players were told to stay in their rooms that night. Bruce recalled the uneasy feeling among his teammates.

There’s something about blood that connects us in a deep and visceral way. Blood ties speak of family connections of course, but it’s more than that.

Blood is life to the body. Blood is pumped through the heart, sustaining every limb and digit. If blood flow is cut off, then the limb dies.

In ancient worship rituals, blood was shed in sacrifice to atone for sin, to make people right (or at one) with God. A life for a life.

In verse 16 Paul writes, is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the bloodof Christ?   

Paul is referring to the Christian ritual of communion here, also known as Mass or the Eucharist or the Lord’s supper. Communion was first instituted by Jesus.

On the night before his crucifixion and death, Jesus was celebrating the Jewish Passover meal with his disciples in the upper room. During the meal, Jesus gave the cup of wine new meaning. For Christians the cup signifies God’s new covenant, sealed with the blood of Christ for the forgiveness of sin. 

Jesus’ blood, poured out on the cross, atones for the sin of the world. Through faith in Jesus’ sacrifice we are made right with God.

Paul is saying that when we share the cup at communion, we are participating in the blood of Christ. That word translated as participating comes from the Greek word koinonia. Koinonia and its related cognates appear six times in today’s passage. So koinonia is key to understanding Paul’s thought.

The meaning of koinonia is difficult to translate directly into English. It can mean participation or partnership or fellowship or communion depending on the context. In the New Testament, koinonia speaks of a special bond or deep connection between the people of God.

Koinonia is not a light or superficial connection. Men who have participated in combat together, sharing blood, sweat and tears, have a koinonia connection.

Indeed, people who have survived a long ordeal together are bound by koinonia. They share an intimate and unspoken understanding that can only be gained through a common (and often painful) experience.     

What then does it mean to participate in the blood of Christ? Well, there is a certain mystery here that cannot be penetrated by mere words. But you need some explanation, no matter how inadequate, so here goes…  

In one sense, participating in the blood of Christ, means sharing in the benefits of forgiveness and atonement through faith in Jesus’ death on the cross.

Paul’s argument is this: You cannot be clean and dirty at the same time.

Those two things are mutually exclusive. It’s similar with the blood of Christ.

You cannot participate in the atonement of Christ and participate in pagan rituals at the same time. The cleansing blood of Christ and the defiling blood of pagan sacrifice are mutually exclusive. 

Going a little deeper, participating in the blood of Christ, could also mean sharing in the sufferings of Jesus. We probably won’t be crucified like Jesus was (thankfully), but we may suffer smaller injustices and humiliations because of our connection with Jesus.

You know those times when (through no fault of your own) you feel powerless and vulnerable; they are opportunities for creating koinonia (or communion) with Jesus. Our Lord set aside his power, making himself vulnerable for us, even unto death on a cross. 

Although unpleasant, these smaller sufferings enable us to know Jesus more intimately. There is a surprising joy in sharing Jesus’ suffering. Joy and suffering are not mutually exclusive.

We are talking about the things that connect us. The blood of Christ connects us, as does the bread of Christ. 

Bread Connections:

The English word ‘companion’ literally means to ‘share bread with’.

A companion therefore is someone you eat with. There’s something about sharing a meal that connects people and makes them our companions.

When people eat together, they talk and as they talk, they get to know each other; barriers come down and trust forms. Food has a way too of lingering in our memory. A shared meal creates a feeling of belonging and connection.

Food is a conduit for love. When you cook something special for someone, it is an act of love. And when you eat that meal, you receive that person’s love.

There has been a lot of love put into the shared lunch today.

In verses 16 and 17 Paul talks about the bread of the communion meal saying…

And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all share the one loaf. Again, that word participation comes from the Greek koinonia.

Later, in his letter to the Corinthians, Paul will go on to talk about the church being the body of Christ. Paul’s emphasis in this verse is on unity. Sharing the bread of communion is an act of koinonia with the people of God.

Just as bread nourishes body and soul, so too participating in church life nourishes our relationships together. Koinonia with others who share our faith banishes loneliness, creates trust and fosters a sense of identity and belonging.

In verse 18 Paul draws an analogy saying: Consider the people of Israel: Do not those who eat the sacrifices participate in the altar? 

The Old Testament background here is that people would bring their food to the priest to be offered in sacrifice to God. Some of the food sacrificed was given to the priest and the rest was returned to the worshippers who shared a meal together. This sacred meal was a participation in the altar.

There’s that word again; participation, koinonia.

One of the things on Israel’s altar was the shew bread, 12 loaves symbolising God’s holy presence. The imagery is clear; God is the one who provides for all the people’s needs. God is the host of the sacred meal in other words. And, as host, God is present at the meal.   

Our communion bread (symbolising the body of Christ) is sometimes referred to as the host. Christ is the host of the communion table. Jesus is God’s provision for our needs. When we share communion, Jesus is present, by his Spirit. We cannot see Jesus, but we know by faith that Christ is in the room.

The koinonia of the communion table takes us into the realm of mystery, what someone once called ‘the cloud of unknowing’. Some people are comfortable with mystery. Others not so much.

If you like a rational explanation for everything, if you want all your questions answered, then mystery can make you feel uneasy, vulnerable even. The realm of mystery requires us to exercise faith, to trust ourselves to the unseen presence of God.

We’ve talked about the connections created by blood and bread. Now let’s consider those unseen connections in the spiritual realm.

Unseen Connections:

One of the difficulties with spiritual things is that we cannot see them. Spiritual reality may be felt or sensed, but it is seldom seen. In truth, there is an unseen reality to our lives.

There are many things in the physical / material world which we cannot see and yet we know are real because of the effects they have on our lives.

Gravity is perhaps the most obvious invisible force. The gravitational pull of the moon causes the oceans tidal movement. Gravity also keeps our feet on the ground and can inflict some pain if we get on the wrong side of it.

Atmospheric pressure is another invisible force at work in our world. High pressure usually means sunshine and low pressure often means bad weather.

We cannot see the movement of tectonic plates below the earth’s surface, but we know about it when the plates do move.

Love is another unseen power which affects us, not unlike gravity or tectonic plates. Love is not a substance. You cannot put love under a microscope and analyse it like bacteria or dissect it like a frog. But love still makes itself known, holding sway over our thoughts and feelings, like the moon holds sway over the ocean.

The greatest unseen power, of course, is God himself. God is Spirit so we cannot see him, but we can see where he has been. The whole earth and everything in it, is his masterpiece, both beautiful and functional at the same time. 

In verses 19 and 20 Paul talks about the malevolent unseen forces behind idols.

19 Do I mean then that food sacrificed to an idol is anything, or that an idol is anything? 20 No, but the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God, and I do not want you to be participants with demons. 

The idols which littered ancient Corinth were just lumps of wood and stone. They were dead, impotent, with no power at all in themselves.

However, behind the idols and pagan temples were demons; evil spiritual beings, aligned with the devil. While we cannot see demons physically, we can see their detrimental effect in this world. Things like greed, exploitation, fear, racism, sexual abuse, poverty, violence and so on. 

The really twisted thing about pagan idolatry is that those who worship idols think they are doing something righteous or good. They are often very devout and sincere people who are not aware of the unseen reality. The evil one presents himself as an angel of light. 

I’m not saying these things to make you afraid. If you remain in Christ, then you have nothing to fear.

Having unveiled the truth about idol worship, that it really is the worship of demons, Paul then states the obvious, in verse 21…

21 You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too; you cannot have a part in both the Lord’s table and the table of demons.

In other words, you cannot partake of holy communion and indulge in the dinner parties held in pagan temples. These two things are mutually exclusive. You cannot serve Jesus and the devil at the same time. You cannot be in partnership with unseen evil forces and remain in Christ. 

To do so would be to court disaster. For one thing it would arouse the Lord’s jealousy. Jealousy is not the same as envy. Envy is bad. Envy is when you want something that doesn’t belong to you. Envy ultimately destroys.

Jealousy is different from envy. Jealousy is the righteous indignation you feel when someone threatens what is rightfully yours to care for. Jealousy ultimately protects. A jealous father protects his children, just like a good shepherd protects his sheep.   

You may wonder what relevance Paul’s advice has in our world today.

Well, for those who live in countries where people offer food and incense to idols in temples, the connection is clear. If you want to follow Jesus, you cannot go to those temples and participate in worship.

Idolatry is usually more subtle in New Zealand though. While we do have an attachment to certain objects (like our cell phones), I don’t expect anyone here bows down in worship to those objects.

We are more inclined to internalise our idols. For example, we may at times give a greater place to work and wealth than we do to Jesus. Or we might prioritise entertainment and our own comfort over obedience to Christ. Freedom itself can become an idol.  

The problem with internalising our idols is that we cannot see them, which means we are less aware of our own idolatry. We risk becoming like the devout pagans who are unaware of their spiritual reality.

Another danger for us in New Zealand is syncretism. Dipping into more than one religion at the same time. Maybe practicing aspects of Christianity alongside some other belief system. That won’t work.

Just like it doesn’t work to use a Ouija board on Saturday night and then take communion on Sunday morning. Mutually exclusive.

Mixing religions and dabbling in the occult are obvious things to avoid. What about those things that are less black and white, more grey? 

When in doubt, let peace be your guide. If you are uncomfortable, if it feels like something is off but you can’t quite put your finger on it, listen to your instinct. The Spirit of God often nudges our instinct. If someone invites you to an event or activity and you don’t have peace within yourself about it, don’t go there.  

Conclusion:

At the beginning of our message today I talked about the tension that exists with Christian freedom. While we don’t have a license to compromise our belief about God or our loyalty to Christ, we are free to reach out to others with the love of Jesus.

And that’s where our focus should be. Looking for common ground. Looking for those points of connection that allow us to be mutually inclusive so that others might experience koinonia with Christ.

Let us pray…

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, forgive us our idolatries. Help us to walk in freedom and righteousness we pray. Amen.

Questions for discussion or reflection:

  1. What stands out for you in reading this Scripture and/or in listening to the sermon? Why do you think this stood out to you?
  2. Why does Paul warn the Corinthians against mixing pagan worship with taking communion?
  3. What connects you to Jesus? What connects you to other believers?
  4. Have you ever experienced koinonia? What happened? Why is koinonia important? What are the benefits of koinonia?
  5. What does it mean to participate in the blood of Christ?
  6. What does the ritual of holy communion mean to you? In what sense is Christ present when we share communion?
  7. What relevance does Paul’s advice, in 1 Corinthians 10:14-22, have for us today? What idols are you most vulnerable to?
  8. How might we decide whether something is compatible with Christ or not?     
Tawa Baptist

Blind Ambition

Scripture: Mark 10:35-45

Video Link: https://youtu.be/zEJ2DkZTFQQ

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Jesus’ humility (v. the disciples’ ambition)
  • Jesus’ vision (v. the disciples’ blindness)
  • Jesus’ redemption (v. the disciples’ anger)
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Good morning everyone.

It’s October, which means some students will be sitting exams soon.

One method for exam revision is the 1-2-3-7 technique. That is, after your first read through, revise what you want to remember the very next day and then the day after that and then again on the seventh day.

Some people say you should re-read again 21 days after the first read, but if you are sitting exams two weeks from now you, you won’t have time. The point is you cannot expect to remember something you’ve only read once. Repetition is key to learning.    

Today we continue our series in the gospel of Mark based on the lectionary readings. This Sunday’s Scripture is Mark chapter 10, verses 35-45. If you have been following this series, then some of what you are about to hear will sound familiar. This is because it’s the third time that Jesus has said it.

Jesus’ disciples didn’t understand what he was saying the first time, so he kept repeating himself. But, with each repetition, Jesus adds a little more information and so this sermon is not a repeat. From Mark 10, verse 35, we read…

35 Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him. “Teacher,” they said, “we want you to do for us whatever we ask.” 36 “What do you want me to do for you?” he asked. 37 They replied, “Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory.” 38 “You don’t know what you are asking,” Jesus said. “Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?” 39 “We can,” they answered. Jesus said to them, “You will drink the cup I drink and be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with, 40 but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared.” 41 When the ten heard about this, they became indignant with James and John. 42 Jesus called them together and said, “You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. 43 Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 44 and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all.  45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate God’s word for us.

In this passage we see the contrast between Jesus and his disciples.

Jesus’ humility stands apart from the disciples’ ambition.

Jesus’ vision sees beyond the disciples’ blindness.

And Jesus’ redemption shines like a star against the darkness of the disciples’ anger. First, let’s consider the contrast between Jesus’ humility and the disciples’ ambition.

Jesus’ humility (v. the disciples’ ambition)

Thomas Merton, the 20th Century Trappist monk, once wrote…

When ambition ends, happiness begins.

Merton is saying that when we let go of our relentless drive for success and achievement, we can find true contentment and fulfilment.

Ambition is the desire and determination to achieve something. Wanting to achieve something is not necessarily bad in itself, unless it comes at the expense of our well-being and relationships. If ambition is left unchecked, it tends to lead to things like envy and arrogance, anger and greed. Ambition is a hunger that is never satisfied.    

The brothers James and John had ambitions. James and John were the sons of Zebedee, a local fisherman. From what we can piece together it appears James and John came from a moderately wealthy family who were well-connected.

Their father Zebedee owned several fishing boats and employed servants.

Also, James and John may have had a family connection with the household of the high priest.

For James and John to walk away from a successful family business to follow a travelling rabbi, who often criticized the religious establishment, was no small thing. James and John had given up a lot to become disciples of Jesus.

Maybe this was in the back of their mind when they said to Jesus, ‘we want you to do for us whatever we ask’.

This request is the opposite of winsome. This request is a bit insensitive in fact, given how it follows hard on the heels of Jesus’ third passion prediction. Jesus had just been telling his disciples (in verses 32-34) how he will be mocked, spat on, flogged and killed before rising three days later.

Somehow this doesn’t register with James and John. Jesus is their teacher.

He is their boss, and he is soon to suffer terribly, yet they want to tell Jesus what to do. That is ambition speaking. 

But listen to the way Jesus handles their request. There is a grace and humility in Jesus’ response that is truly beautiful. Jesus does not get angry with James and John. He doesn’t yell at them or cast them into outer darkness. Jesus takes the posture of a servant. He listens.

‘What do you want me to do for you’, Jesus asks. That’s a listening question. That’s something a servant says. 

And James and John reply…

“Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory.”

There it is. Naked ambition. James and John know that Jesus is a king. To sit at the right and left of a king is to occupy positions of power and prestige. It’s like saying, we want to be second and third in charge of your kingdom.

Although James and John’s ambition (to be in charge) looks quite ugly in many respects, we should not judge them too harshly. Each of us has a bit of James and John in us. None of us are immune from selfish ambition.

Looking at James and John in a more positive light, we note the strength of their faith and hope in Jesus. As I said before, James and John gave up a lot to follow Jesus. Their ambition may have been misguided but they have a confidence in Jesus which is quite inspiring.  

Jesus had just been describing how he would be rejected, mocked and killed. To the disciples this might have sounded like Jesus was a bit discouraged or plagued with self-doubt. Perhaps James and John’s request was their way of saying to Jesus, ‘we believe in you, even if you don’t quite believe in yourself’.  

But Jesus is not plagued with self-doubt. Jesus sees what the disciples can’t see. Jesus sees the cross before him.

Jesus came as a humble servant, but he is primarily a servant of the living God, the Lord Almighty, God of heaven and earth. Jesus does not take his orders from James and John or any other human being. Jesus takes his orders from God the Father. Jesus’ sole ambition is to love and obey God.

Humility does not mean saying ‘yes’ to every request. Humility is about having your feet on the ground. To be humble is to maintain an accurate estimation of yourself, remembering who you are and who you serve. Not being carried away by ambition but holding on to yourself. 

Jesus’ vision (vs. the disciples’ blindness)

Jesus has the humility to know that it’s not his call who gets to sit on his left or right, much less James and John’s call. Jesus will not usurp God’s authority. And so, Jesus declines their request saying…

38 “You don’t know what you are asking. Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?”

James and John answer with confidence saying, “We can”.

Their ambition has blinded them. Jesus has just said, “You don’t know what you are asking…”, but James and John are not listening, they act as if they know better than Jesus.

You have probably seen the drawing of the old woman which, depending on how you look at it, is also a drawing of a young woman. Some people can only see the old woman and some can only see the young woman. Then there are those who can see both.

When Jesus asks James and John if they can drink the cup he is about to drink and be baptized with the baptism he is about to be baptized with, James and John misunderstand Jesus’ meaning. They can only see the young woman.

In the Old Testament, the cup had two meanings. Sometimes the cup referred to joy and abundance of good things, like in the 23rd Psalm where we read…

You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life…

Other times though, the cup is a symbol of God’s judgement and wrath, like in the book of Jeremiah where the Lord says…

Take from my hand this cup filled with the wine of wrath and make all the nations to whom I send you drink…

When James and John hear Jesus talking about drinking from his cup, they probably think Psalm 23, joy and abundance, dining at the king’s table.

But this is not what Jesus has in mind. Jesus is thinking about the cup of God’s wrath that he will drink in going to the cross.

Likewise, the image of baptism had two meanings in the first century.

When Jesus talks about baptism in Mark 10, he is not referring to the ritual of baptism that we are familiar with.

Baptism in this context is a metaphor for being overwhelmed or submerged under water, like with Noah’s flood or when the Egyptian army were drowned in the Red Sea or when the Psalmist in distress says, Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls; all your waves and breakers have swept over me…

For first century Jews though, baptism was also an image of cleansing and renewal. So, when James and John hear Jesus talking about his baptism, they probably think Jesus is referring to God’s destruction of their enemies and the renewal of Israel. They want some of that.

But Jesus has a different understanding of baptism in mind here. Jesus is contemplating the overwhelming suffering he will soon experience in going to the cross.     

Jesus can see the blindness of James and John, but he doesn’t humiliate them. Jesus’ vision sees beyond the disciples’ blindness. The Lord goes on to tell James and John…   

“You will drink the cup I drink and be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with…”

In fact, James and John were witnesses to Jesus’ suffering, death and resurrection. More than that, James was among the first of the apostles to be killed for his testimony about Jesus. In Acts 12, we read how Herod had James put to death by the sword.

John was not murdered, as far as we know, but he did suffer in his witness for Jesus. John survived a series of state-sponsored persecutions of the early church and was eventually sent into exile on the island of Patmos.

The disciples’ experience speaks to our experience. When we first become believers, we don’t know what lies ahead for us in our journey of faith. We are blind, feeling our way like newborn puppies.

There is often an initial joy when we first accept Jesus. But there are also times of desolation along the way, when we feel alone and abandoned by God.

To follow Jesus is to drink from his cup and share in his baptism.

Sometimes, like the first disciples, we will get it wrong. We will misunderstand, we will fail and wonder how we might move forward. But Jesus understands. Jesus forgives and Jesus provides a way for us. Despite the disciples’ misplaced ambition and initial blindness, Jesus was still able to use them, and he is still able to use us.

Although James and John did indeed share in Christ’s sufferings, that did not automatically entitle them to call dibs on the best seats in God’s kingdom.

As Jesus said: ‘To sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared.’  

If Jesus had in mind the cross, then the ‘places’ in view here were allotted to two criminals. One was crucified on Jesus’ left and the other on his right. Ambition had blinded James and John, so they did not know what they were asking.

We have heard about Jesus’ humility in contrast to the disciples’ ambition.

And we’ve heard how Jesus’ vision sees beyond the disciples’ blindness.

Now let’s consider Jesus’ redemption in the face of the disciples’ anger.  

Jesus’ redemption (v. the disciples’ anger)

There are basically two main ways to define greatness. Top down or bottom up. The top-down definition of greatness asks, how many people can I get to serve me? While the bottom-up definition asks, how many people can I serve?

William Booth, the founder of the Salvation Army, once said, “The greatness of a man’s power is the measure of his surrender”.

I believe it is true for women as well. Perhaps what Booth meant here was the more a person surrenders their life to God’s purpose, the more people they will help. William Booth thought of greatness in terms of obedience to God and service to others.

James and John’s ambition, their drive for success and achievement, threatened their relationships with the other disciples. In verse 41, we read how the 10 became indignant with James and John.

The word indignant means angry, but it’s a particular kind of angry. The other 10 disciples were angry with James and John because they felt James and John had behaved in a way that was unworthy or unfair.

By asking for top positions in Jesus’ administration, James and John were implicitly saying to the other 10 disciples, ‘we are better than you’. The other 10 disciples didn’t share James and John’s opinion. The other disciples’ indignation reveals they thought James and John were not worthy of sitting at Jesus’ left and right.

No one, it seems, was too bothered about how Jesus might be feeling, even though Jesus had just described in detail how he was going to suffer.       

Jesus is not indignant. Jesus does not take umbrage. Jesus sees a teachable moment, an opportunity for redeeming the disciples’ relationships. Jesus sets the disciples’ free from their ambition and their anger, saying…

“You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them.  43 Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 44 and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all.

This is the part that sounds familiar. Most people in the first century defined greatness in terms of how many people I can get to serve me. Jesus flips this on its head. Jesus redefines greatness as how many people I can serve.

Jesus goes on to use himself as an example saying, in verse 45…

45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.

In the Jewish imagination, the Son of Man was a great figure, one of the greatest. But the thing that makes the Son of Man great is his service to others.

Jesus is the Son of Man. Jesus is trying to tell his disciples that he came to die in order that others might live. That is one of the main ways Jesus continues to serve humanity.

Much ink has been spilt over what Jesus meant by giving his life as a ransom.

In the first century, if you wanted to set someone free from slavery or prison, you did so by paying a large amount of money. The ransom payment redeemed the person’s life, allowing them to go free and start afresh.

Some people over the centuries have asked the question, “If Jesus’ life was the cost of the ransom, then who was paid?” Well, that sort of question misses the point. No one was paid. Jesus is speaking metaphorically here.

Like when someone says, ‘grief is the price we pay for love’. No one receives a payment. Grief isn’t like money. The expression simply means, love costs you. Our redemption cost Jesus his life. Our freedom cost God his Son.

Conclusion:

Let me finish with a story. This is a true story. On Sunday, 16 August 1987, Northwest Airlines flight 225 crashed shortly after taking off from Detroit Airport, killing 154 people on board and two people on the ground. Only one passenger survived, a four-year old girl named Cecelia.

Cecelia survived because, as the plane was falling, Cecelia’s mother, Paula, unbuckled her own seatbelt, got down on her knees in front of her daughter and shielded Cecelia with her body. Paula gave her life as a ransom for her daughter. She saved Cecelia.

Nothing could separate Cecelia from her mother’s love – not tragedy or disaster, not the fall or the flames, not height nor depth, nor life nor death. Such is Jesus’ love for us. He left heaven, became a servant for us and covered us with the sacrifice of his own body that we might live. [1]

Jesus’ sacrifice calls for a response from us. What will you do with the freedom Jesus bought you?

Let us pray…

Loving God, we thank you for Jesus who redeems our life and shows us the way. Set us free from misplaced ambition, blindness and anger. Help us to walk humbly with you. Through Jesus we pray. Amen.

Questions for discussion or reflection:

  1. What stands out for you in reading this Scripture and/or in listening to the sermon? Why do you think this stood out to you?
  2. Why does Jesus keep repeating the same message to his disciples? (That is, about his suffering, death and resurrection and about service.) What faith lessons keep being repeated in your life?
  3. Discuss / reflect on Thomas Merton’s words, “When ambition ends, happiness begins”. What does Merton mean by this? Do you agree? When is ambition good? When does ambition become harmful? What was Jesus’ ambition? What is your ambition?
  4. What did Jesus mean when he talked about the cup and baptism, in verse 38? How did James and John (mis)understand Jesus’ words? What realities has God opened your eyes to, since becoming a Christian?   
  5. How does Jesus define greatness? How do you define greatness? Who serves you? Who do you serve? 
  6. Why did the other 10 disciples become indignant (angry) with James and John? What does their anger reveal about them? What makes you feel indignant?
  7. What did Jesus mean when he said, the Son of Man came to give his life as a ransom for many? What freedoms do you enjoy because of Jesus? What will you do with the freedom Jesus bought you?

[1] Refer J. John and Mark Stibbe’s book, ‘A Box of Delights’, page 173.